Elephant Insurance Company

Carrier appetite summary

Product/Scope - Personal auto only; Elephant does not underwrite homeowners and writes private passenger autos under Elephant Insurance Company, with some TX business also through Redpoint County Mutual. - State-specific filed underwriting guides are provided for GA, IL, IN, MD, OH, TN, TX, and VA; agents must follow the applicable state PDF linked from the underwriting guideline documents page. Target / Preferred Business - Currently insured drivers who shop early and can maintain continuous coverage through the effective date. - Good to excellent credit, multi-vehicle policies, and households with additional drivers including youthful drivers on family policies. - Risks with minimal at-fault accidents and customers who consider paying in full and utilizing available discounts. Key Eligibility & Acceptable Risk Parameters (Virginia & Texas examples – similar structure by state) - Only private passenger automobiles are acceptable. - Vehicles must have a valid street garaging address in an eligible state; P.O. Boxes are not acceptable as garaging addresses. - Named insured, spouse, or resident household member must be the vehicle owner for standard placement (limited exceptions for certain partnership/corporate-owned vehicles that are personally operated and meet detailed conditions). - Household drivers must be properly licensed (no never-licensed named insureds in TX) and listed when regularly using insured autos. Major Ineligible / Declined Risks (Virginia sample wording, with similar structure in TX) Vehicles/Risk Uses (VA, TX): - Vehicles used for racing, emergency services, or carrying persons/property for a fee (e.g., taxi, limo, other livery; pickup or delivery of magazines, newspapers, food, or other products), or leased/rented to others by the applicant. - Conversion vehicles, vehicles not registered for street use, grey-market vehicles, vehicles equipped with cooking equipment or bathrooms, or commercial vehicle types such as step-vans, panel vans, parcel/cargo cutaway vans, or similar separate cab/cargo designs. - Vehicles equipped with altered suspensions (homemade/custom/modified) including lift kits greater than 4"; lift kits 4" or less and certain specialty vehicles (low riders with hydraulics, kit cars, dune buggies) are only acceptable if registered for street use. - Vehicles with business use that does not meet the carrier’s acceptable business-use standards as defined in the Personal Auto Rates and Rules Manual. - Vehicles equipped with snowplow equipment when used for business purposes. - Vehicles with more than a threshold of custom parts/equipment (VA: over $5,000; TX: over $20,000) are not acceptable. - Vehicles reported as stolen, missing, recovered thefts, severe damage/total loss, recent salvage, or other severe damage indicators within a year of policy start; even after a year, many may be restricted to liability only (no comp/collision) per state guide. - Low-speed vehicles (GEM, THINK, micro-trucks, etc.) that cannot reach typical highway speeds. - Vehicles with towing coverage that are not in running condition. Ownership/Garaging Restrictions (VA example) - Policies where vehicles are generally garaged at commercial locations, or all vehicles are typically garaged out of state, are ineligible. - Policies with vehicles garaged at two different addresses and drivers in two different households are generally ineligible, except for clearly defined exceptions: students/military away, two homes for same insured, all vehicles actually garaged at one address despite multiple driver addresses, or divorcing spouses where the vehicle is still community property. - Vehicles principally garaged out of state in certain jurisdictions (e.g., Michigan or Canada) are ineligible. - Corporate/partnership-owned vehicles only acceptable under narrow conditions: operated by named insured or resident relative for pleasure/commute, all drivers are household members and listed, not more than four such vehicles, and the entity is not engaged in transportation-for-fee or auto-related business (selling, leasing, repairing, parking, servicing, storing, delivering, or testing autos). Driver and Household Ineligibility (VA example) - Vehicles regularly available to non-listed drivers, unlicensed drivers, foreign/international licensed drivers (with narrow exceptions for employees of Admiral Group and subsidiaries), underage drivers, or drivers with: - More than one DUI, - More than two major convictions (including DUIs) in the last 3 years, - More than four at-fault accidents in the last 3 years, - More than four not-at-fault/non-chargeable accidents in the last 3 years. - Policies with more than four at-fault or chargeable accidents across all rated drivers in the last three years are ineligible. - Insureds who require an SR-22/financial responsibility filing for a state where Elephant is not licensed. - Applicants with prior fraud, misrepresentation on applications or claims, or prior cancellation/nonrenewal by Elephant for fraud or unauthorized payments. - Multiple personal auto policies in the same household are generally prohibited, with limited exceptions for children owning their own vehicles, unrelated roommates, antique or otherwise unacceptable-for-full-coverage vehicles, or certain rental vehicle situations for employees of Admiral Group companies. Point-Based Eligibility (VA example) - A policy-level point system is used to determine eligibility based on the last 5 years of activity for rated drivers. - Typical point values: minor speeding (1), first DUI (2), additional DUIs (5), major conviction (5), first accident (3), additional accidents (5). - New business and renewal point limit around 31 points per policy; risks exceeding this are ineligible. Coverage-Specific Ineligibilities (VA example) - Loan/lease coverage is not available for vehicles older than a defined age (e.g., more than 8 model years old). - Towing/Roadside Assistance coverage may be declined or removed where there is excessive prior utilization (e.g., more than 5 uses in past 12 months on a renewal, or more than 10 uses in the past 24 months on new business). Geographic & State Notes - Underwriting guidelines are state-filed and must be followed exactly per GA, IL, IN, MD, OH, TN, TX, and VA PDFs linked from the agent knowledge base. - Certain licensing/garaging limitations apply by state (e.g., no policies where vehicles principally garaged in MI or Canada for a VA policy; some states also impose specific minimum/maximum liability limits and transfer-of-coverage rules addressed in related agent articles). Submission & Pre-Bind Requirements (Agents) - Quotes are only guaranteed until close of business the same day; prior-day quote prices are not honored. - Same-day bind is limited to specific situations (e.g., impound, repossession, Texas inspection needs). When binding same-day, agent must ask whether any drivers/vehicles had accidents that day; if yes, binding must stop. - Additional pre-bind reports (RCPOS) may be triggered; this is a hard stop until required documents are received and approved by underwriting. Documents must be emailed to the designated underwriting documents inbox, and agents cannot proceed until approval email is returned (typical review time up to ~15 business days). - Photo inspections may be required when there is recent activity (often within one year) or other triggers; photos must be sent to the designated photo inspection inbox and underwriting must complete review (also up to ~15 business days) before quoting/binding can be finalized. - When emailing underwriting or photo inspection, agents must include quote number and customer name/DOB in the subject line. Producer / Broker Operational Notes - Agency portal is for agents who can service their own policies; they need their company code to set up servicing after first bound policy. - Once a policy is bound, agency support is for pre-bind only; post-bind servicing and underwriting questions go through customer service. - Early Bird discount requires the customer to be currently insured and able to maintain existing coverage at least 5 days beyond purchase; the policy must be purchased at least 5 days before effective date. - Agents should call in to update garaging addresses where students are away at school in-state to ensure accurate rating; if student is out-of-state, agents must have notes added to the policy since rating for out-of-state garaging may not be supported. - Salvage title status cannot be changed by technical support; customers disputing salvage information must work with their DMV. Overall appetite - Competitive for standard personal auto with stable prior insurance, clean-to-moderate driving histories within the point thresholds, and traditional private passenger vehicles garaged and rated in the written states. - Avoids commercial-type usage, livery/delivery exposure, unconventional or heavily modified vehicles, complex multi-household garaging, highly adverse driving/claims history, frequent towing usage, and salvage/total-loss type vehicles within the disallowed time windows. - All detailed eligibility, point thresholds, and coverage restrictions must be verified against the current state-specific PDF from the Underwriting Guideline Documents page before binding.

Referenced source pages